


rainwater and brown sugar

by aerequets



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng, F/M, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Pre-Relationship, based on that drawing i did, just a lot of pining honestly, prpr, they're so sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29626896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerequets/pseuds/aerequets
Summary: He knew they shouldn't do anything (whatever that 'anything' was). They couldn't. Not until they defeated Hawkmoth. Not until their relationship wouldn't get in the way of their work (or whatever other excuse they'd come up with over the course of three months). He knew all this. He knew.But it was the raindrop that did it for him.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 35
Kudos: 170





	rainwater and brown sugar

**Author's Note:**

> hey yall! this is my first fic on this account :D i made this based on a drawing i posted to my instagram and tumblr (same name). enjoy!

They'd gotten caught in the rain.

Despite having seen the overcast clouds half an hour earlier, heavy with the threat of rain, and despite neither of them having their umbrellas, Marinette and Adrien had decided that they would go study in the corner cafe two blocks away from school. If it started sprinkling, Marinette had said, they could just hurry back before the downpour got too harsh.

It was too bad they didn't have a plan for what to do if it was pouring right from the get-go. They'd tried running through, but ended up huddling under the overhang of the florist's one block away from school, soaked to the bone.

That was how they'd ended up in this situation: squeezed under a tiny little overhang, arms pressed flush against each other, as they waited for the storm to ease up.

It was quiet except for the sound of rain pelting the empty streets and their own breathing, still a bit heavy from their run. The flowers around them permeated the air with sweet perfume. Though they were both shivering from being soaked, Adrien was all too aware of the heat of Marinette's arm pressed against his.

Ever since they'd found out each other's identities three months ago, they were stuck in a sort of limbo; not quite a couple, but not just friends, either. They were closer while not being close enough. They shared looks and smiles that meant everything and nothing at the same time. Marinette had said they shouldn't do anything until they defeated Hawkmoth, but Adrien wasn't sure what qualified as “anything”. The looks, the smiles, sharing their lunches, craning their necks over one textbook between the two of them- all of it felt special with her. He wasn't sure how much of it was in his head, though, so he followed her lead, swallowing every 'I love you' and shoving his hands into his pockets when they itched to brush her hair back.

Marinette's voice was hardly above a whisper, but he picked up what she said anyways from habit of keeping his ear trained for her voice. “This is like that day.”

He looked her way, blinking rain out of his lashes. “What day?”

“The first day we met,” she said. “Remember? It was raining after school and I was still mad at you. You lent me your umbrella.”

“I remember,” Adrien said, as if he could have ever forgotten. _She's just a friend, Plagg. A friend._ “You still have that umbrella, don't you?”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” she replied, all innocence. They shared a chuckle that faded into the pattering rain. A few moments later, she said, “That was when I fell in love with you.”

Adrien's eyes snapped to her. “What?”

Her face, flushed from their run, seemed to get a little redder. She looked away, the way she always did when she got embarrassed. Still, she continued, “When you talked to me that time. And lent me your umbrella... that was when I fell in love with you.”

Adrien opened and closed his mouth, stunned into silence. They both knew that they had feelings for each other – it was kind of hard not to know when they spent more time with each other than ever before – but he'd never known that she'd fallen in love with him _then._ He tried to think of something to say – anything suave, or cool, or even funny – but in the end all he could come up with was, “You fell in love with me when I talked about how lonely I was?”

It wasn't suave, cool, or funny, but it still did the trick. Marinette broke the silence with a snort, dissolving into giggles, and Adrien could feel the sound of her laughter enveloping his heart like honey. He would have saved her laughter in a bottle if he could. The hold she had on him was terrifying. Exhilarating.

“More like when you were honest, and kind, and weren't afraid to set things right even if I was busy being angry,” she laughed. Adrien's heart doubled its pace at every word until its beat seemed to match the pattering rain around them. “But yeah, sure. It's because you were lonely.”

Adrien knew if he continued this conversation, it would be like sliding down a slippery slope with nothing to grab onto for purchase, but he couldn't stop himself. “I fell in love with you on that day too,” he blurted. “Earlier. When we fought together for the first time and you... you basically declared war on Hawkmoth.”

Marinette sent him a heart-wrenching smile. “I was pretty cool, wasn't I?”

“I told myself that whoever was under that mask, I loved that girl,” Adrien said softly, watching her grin melt into something more tender. More vulnerable. “And. Well. Here I am.”

The sound of rain surrounded them once again, except this time, they weren't looking out into the streets. Adrien and Marinette stared at each other in a magnetic trance, unable to look away, the weight of their words pulling them in.

He knew they shouldn't do anything (whatever that 'anything' was). They _couldn't._ Not until they defeated Hawkmoth. Not until their relationship wouldn't get in the way of their work (or whatever other excuse they'd come up with over the course of three months). He knew all this. He _knew._

But it was the raindrop that did it for him.

He watched with rapt attention as a drop of water separated from her sodden bangs. He tracked its path as it rolled over the bridge of her nose and onto her flushed cheek, leaving a wet trail behind. It was when the drop of water trickled into the corner of her parted mouth that he'd had enough.

He leaned in, threaded his hands through her sopping hair, and kissed her.

Heat spread within him, making it feel as though the water was evaporating off his very skin. She tasted like rainwater and brown sugar, lips impossibly soft and warm, and he tilted his head, seeking more of the flavor. A particularly fat drop of water dripped off the edge of the overhang and splashed onto his arm, snapping him back to reality. _Oh no._

He leapt back as if he'd been burned. Half his body was under the rain now, but he couldn't even tell with how warm he felt. _Oh no. Oh no._

“I-I'm sorry,” he spluttered. “Oh. I am so sorry, I don't know what – I didn't mean to-”

She stepped forward and grabbed the front of his shirt, hard enough to wring some water out that rolled down her arm in spirals. Her eyes held a determined glint to them – the glint that newspapers called her 'warrior's gaze' (who was he to judge? He'd waxed poetic about them enough times) – and she pulled him in. “Don't say you didn't mean it,” she said, before yanking him down the rest of the way and pressing her lips against his. This time, he was only in shock for a second before he melted, closing his eyes and cradling her face once more. She let go of his shirt and wrapped her hands around his neck. The rainwater and brown sugar flavor was entrenched in his senses, now, and he wouldn't want to let go of it even if he had to. He would get drunk on the flavor if he could.

(Who was he kidding? He probably _was.)_

He wasn't sure how long they did this – wiping rainwater from each other's brows, tracing each other's cheekbones, and, well, _kissing_ – but by the time they separated for longer than a few seconds, the rain had slowed to a tolerable drizzle. He leaned his forehead against hers and she let out a shuddering breath that ghosted across his lips and made his insides feel like jelly. She looked up at him through her dark smear of lashes.

“Um. Wow,” she said intelligently. They were silent for a second before snorting simultaneously, breaking apart to laugh. “I can't believe my first words after our first real kiss is _wow._ Ugh.”

Adrien took a deep breath, of the petrichor and dewy flowers and a distinct thread of brown sugar laced through it all. “Neat.” He grinned at her. “There, now my first word is lamer.”

Marinette shook her head but was unable to hide her grin. “You silly cat.” She turned and poked her head out of their meager shelter. “Come on. If we hurry, we can make it back to my place and dry off before the rain starts again.”

Adrien reached out, answering his hands' months-long prayer. He brushed her damp hair back from her face, reveling in the way her ears were tipped with red. Finally, he said the words that had been stored in his heart, growing until they'd blossomed inside him with nowhere else to go but out.

“I love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> again my tumblr and instagram is with the same name, art is posted there too :)


End file.
